Game device



W. E. BATTS Dec. 9, 1958 GAME DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 25,1955 INVENTOR kTT S z B RD E DAR nAvJ WILLARD E. b

BY mww ATTORNEYS W. E. BATTS GAME DEVICE Dec. 9, 1958 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Filed April 25, 1955 INVENTOR:

7WILLARD E. BA'rTs- ATTORNEYS United States Patent GAME DEVICE WillardE. Batts, Rocky Mount, N. C.

Application April 25, 1955, Serial No. 503,679

2 Claims. (Cl. 273-125) This invention relates to games and moreparticularly to a coin operated game mechanism wherein a player impartsupward and lateral motion to successive balls to cause them to passthrough one of various passageways, depending on the skill of theplayer, and into a corresponding designated receiving and scoringchamber.

An object of the invention is to provide a coin operated game devicehaving a minimum numberof moving parts therein and thus one that can beeconomically manufactured.

Another object of the invention is to provide a game device having acone-like barrel wherein a spirally arranged rib portion separates thebarrel into a plurality of zones each communicating with scoringcompartments of different values.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a coin operated gamemechanism wherein a plunger is provided for forcing a coin downwardlyinto a coin receptacle, and said coin in its downward path causing therelease of the playing balls for the game.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a coin operated gamedevice that is non-tiltable so that a player may not operate the sameuntil a coin has been placed 7 in the device.

It is also a further object to provide a coin operated game devicewherein the playing balls are retained in the scoring compartments by anovel counterweight arrangement.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of thegame device;

Figure 2 is a side elevation taken from the left side of Figure 1 withthe side panel removed;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view taken along line 3-3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken along the line4-4 in Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 55 in Figure2;

Figure 6 is a horizontal section taken along line 6-6 in Figure 3;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary side elevation on an enlarged scale takenalong the line 7-7 in Figure 1;

Figure 8 is a vertical section taken along line 8-8 in Figure 7.

The game device is provided with a substantially upright rectangularcasing or cabinet 10 comprising side walls 11 and 12, front and backwalls 13 and 14 and four corner posts terminating in a pair of front andback legs 15 and 16 shown resting on a floorsurface 17. The front wall13 of the cabinet is covered by wall 18 formed of clear glass or plasticto enable a player to,

observe the path of the balls as the game is played. A panel member 21closes the top of the casing or cabi- 2,863,667 Patented Dec. 9, 8

net 10 and a suitable display advertising surface 23 is preferablyafiixed to the top panel 21.

Spaced immediately below the top wall 21 is a tapered barrel orcone-like ball-playing chamber or barrel 30 having a reduced rearportion resting on a cross member 31 which is connected to side members11 and 12 by any suitable means. The front of the playing chamber 30 issecured to the inner surface of front wall 13 which has an aperture oropening 32 corresponding with the open front of the barrel 30 to permitobservation of the path of the balls within the barrel 30 when playingthe game.

The rearmost or reduced end of the cone-like chamber 30 is enclosed by aball rebounding member or mirror 33 preferably formed of stainless steeland tilted slightly forward to reflect the path of the balls in thechamber. The mirror 33 also gives the illusion of greater depth to thechamber 30 and an optical illusion of two balls traveling at one timewhen in fact there is only one.

The inner surface of the cone-like chamber 30 is provided with aspirally arranged tubing or rib 34 which guides the playing ball in itstravel. Portions of the spirally arranged rib 34 divide the chamber 30into four scoring zones or segments having apertures or openings 30a,30b, 30c and 30d in the bottom thereof serving as drop-down outlets forthe playing balls G. Each of these four openings is connected by adownwardly sloping passageway or duct means 35a, 35b, 35c, 35d securedto the inner surface of wall 13 by any suitable means. The duct means orpassageways permit the playing balls to roll therethrough from thechamber 30 and out of their lowermost ends 36a, 36b, 36c, 36d intocompartments A, B, C and D formed between the transparent wall 18 andwall 13 by separators or wall side portions 37. The compartments A, B, Cand D are designated with suitable inscription or legend such as Ace,Eagle, Birdie and Par for purposes of scoring the game. The Acecompartment is the highest scoring compartment and the Per the lowest.

When the game is completed the balls rest on a pivotally mounted plateor swinging member 39 forming the bottom wall of the compartments A, B,C, D. The plate or bottom wall 39 is hingedly connected to the outersurface of wall 13 by a pair of hinge or pivot members 40 (Figure 1).Bracket members 41 (Figures 3 and 5) are suitably secured to the innersurface of wall 13 and rotatably supportrod 42 which has downwardlyextending spaced links 43 extending therefrom, each of which spacedlinks carries a pressure finger-like rod 44 with an upturned front endwhich extends through spaced apertures 45 in the front wall 13 to makefrictional contact with the bottom surface of bottom wall or swingingmember 39. counterweight bar W connects the finger-like rods 44 and isof suflicient weight to enable finger-like rods 44 to support the plateor bottom wall 39 with the balls thereon and prevent the member 39 frompivoting and releasing the playing balls from the compartments A, B, Cand D until a coin has been inserted in the apparatus.

A rod 46 is suitably connected to the finger-like members 44 immediatelybelow the point where links 43 connect to members 44. The rod 46 has anormally positioned downturned end integral therewith to which ispivotally connected one end of link 47. The other end of link 47(Figures 2, 5 and 7) connects the sort portion 50a of an L-shaped lever50 having a reduced, elongated front end 50b terminating in anarcuate-shaped nose portion 50c.

Lever 50 is pivotally secured by suitable means such as bolt 51 at anintermediate portion to bracket member 52 which is securely fastened tothe front wall 13 by any suitable means.

As will be observed in Figures 5 and 6, the lever 50 has an off-setangular portion between the mounting bolt 51 and the reduced, elongatedfront portion 50b which off-set portion alines portion 50b of the lever50 with a slot 60 (Figure 7) in the side wall of coin guide track 61.

A coin guide track 61 is'suitably secured to'the front corner postadjacent side wall 11 as clearly shown in Figures 5 and 8. The coinguide track is substantially C-shaped with opposing wall edge portions61a, 61b (Figure 7) spaced apart to define a g'uideway for a coinplunger handle '70 which travels in a vertical path.

It will be noted 'in Figure 7 that the coin track 61 is positionedinclined to front wall 13 to prevent a coin from falling 'out the slot60 and to aline the slot 60 with the path of the movement of "the nose500 of the lever 50 to be later explained.

The lower end of the coin guide track 61 terminates at a suitable 'coinbox or receptacle '62 which collects all the coins.

Secured to the outer surface of wall 11 by any suitable means is a plate63 (Figure 7) provided with an elongated Opening 64 therein whichcorresponds in'width to the slot defined by the opposed edges 61a, 61bof coin tract 61. Intermediate the ends of an elongated opening or slot64 is an enlarged coin inserting opening 65. It will be observed thatthe track 61 has its sides cut away behind the opening 65 to permit acoin to readily enter the inside guiding surface of the'track 61.

After a coin is inserted in the opening 65 into track 61, a coin plungerbroadly indicated at 66 and having a block or driver portion 67 lyingwithin the confines of the track 61 is manually forced downwardly topush the coin downwardly against the nose sac of lever 50 to operate thesame and to permit the coin to move down the track 61 into thereceptacle 62. It will be noted that the block 67 has a width less thanthe diameter of the coin and less than the diameter of the guidingsurface of the track 61 so that it will clear nose 500 in the absence ofa coin being inserted therein. Thereby the game device is prevented frombeing operated until a coin has been placed in the slot 61 to actuatelever 50.

The coin plunger 66 comprises a handle 70 extending horizontallyoutwardly between the edges 61a, 61b of track 61 and through elongatedslot 64, and block portion 67 positioned within the confines of slot 61.To the block 67 is secured a horizontally inwardly extending stud 71having a resilient member or spring 72 in engagement therewith whichserves to return and retain the plunger 66 in the normal position asshown in Figures 2, 7 and 8 after it has forced a coin down thepassageway 61 to operate the apparatus.

To the block portion 67 of coin plunger 66 are secured two spaced studs73 (Figures 7 and 8) having enlarged head portions which serve as guidemembers and bear against the back surface portion 'of track 61 tomaintain the plunger 66 in its proper vertical path of movement.Accordingly, handle 70 has a path of movement between opposed edges 61aand 61b of track 61 and studs 73 have a path of movement in an elongatedopening 74 provided in the top back portion of track 61 as shown inFigure 8.

An opening or cut-away portion 75 as shown in Figure 8 is provided inthe left front corner post to receive the moving parts 71, 72, 73 ofplunger 66 and to permit freedom of movement of the same therein. I

Below bottom wall 39 is a ball collecting rack 80 (Figure 1) upon whichthe balls G rest after they have been emptied from compartments A, B, Cand D by the pivoting of wall 39 on hinges 40. The right portion of rack80 is slightly downwardly inclined to permit the playing balls G to moveby gravity, one at a time, through an aperture 81 formed in the lowerextending portion of side wall 37 of co rnpartment A.

After the balls pass through aperture 81, one at a time, they rest on anelevator or block 82 having an outwardly horizontally extending handle83. Elevator 82 has a top surface downwardly inclined to correspond withthe inclined portion of rack 80. As will be observed in Figure 1, theelevator operating handle 83 is guided in a vertical elongated slot 84formed in a cross member 97 connecting the pair of front legs 15.

When the elevator handle 83 is manually raised the elevator 82, guidedin the cross member 97 connecting the pair of front legs 15, lifts theplaying ball'onto the inclined chute or passageway 85 which leads to theimpact or starting zone 86 in the bottom end of passageway 87. It willbe noted that the lower end of passageway 87 defining the starting zone86 has inwardly sloping wall portions to define an aperture 871; whichconfines a playing ball therein to prevent same from dropping out ofpassageway 87. However, the aperture 87a defined by the inwardly slopingwall portions of passageway 87 is of sufiicient diameter to permit theupright stud or ball impact member 91 secured to a medial portion ofoperatinghandle to enter therethrough and make contact with the playingball to drive same upwardly through passageway 87 through outlet 88 intothe playing chamber or zone 30. The rear end of operating handle 90 ispivotally mounted by suitable means such as a bolt 92 to a back leg 16.A spring 93 resiliently maintalns the handle 90 in the normal horizontalposition as shown in full lines in Figure 3. As will be observed inFigure '4, the upright stud or ball impact member 91 has a concave uppersurface 91a to receive portions of the outer surface of the playingballs G to thereby obtain a greater driving force against the balls.Operating handle is guided in an elongated vertical slot 95 (Figure 1)formed between the right front leg 15 and depending portion 96 of crossmember 97.

Operation of the device To operate the same, a coin is inserted inaperture 65 and will drop into the coin guide track 61 until it engagesthe nose 500 of the lever 50 extending into the track through-the slot60. The player will then grasp the handle 70 of the coin plunger 66 andwill move the same vertically downwardly whereby the block portion 67 ofthe plunger 66 engages the coin and moves the coin and the nose portion50c of the lever 50 downwardly. When the nose portion 500 reaches thedotted line position shown in Figure 7 the coin is free to drop into thecoin receptacle 62 since the pivoting of lever 50 has caused the nose500 to be substantially retracted from the slot 60 in the track 61. Thehandle 70 can then be released to return to its normal upward positionunder the influence of the spring member 72. As the nose sec of thelever 56 is lowered, the lever 50 will pivot at 51 as observed in Figure2 and the lever port on 50a will thus be elevated to carry with it thelink member 47 which will thus move the rod 46 upwardly which will causethe finger-like members 44 to be pivoted by the links 43 on the rod 42thus moving the fingerlike members 44 away from the bottom wall orswinging member 39 of the compartments A, B, C and D.

This movement of the finger-like members 44 from the under surface ofthe bottom wall 39 will permit the playing balls G which have beenretained in compartrnents A, B, C and D to drop downwardly since thebottom wall 39 is now free to pivot on its hinges 40. The playing ballsG as, seen in Figure 1 will then be positioned on the rack 80 whichslopes to the right to thus permit the playing balls one at a time tomove through the aperture 81 and onto the elevator or block member 82.The handle portion 83 of the elevator block member 82 will then bemanually moved upwardly in the elongated slot '84 to thus permit theplaying ball which is positioned on the upper face of the member 82 toroll onto the inclined chute or passageway 85 (Figure 4), down which theplaying ball rolls into the starting or impact zone 86 of thepassageway. The inwardly sloping wall portions of the passageway 87define the small aperture 87a which is of a sufi'icient diameter toretain the playing ball therein and prevent same from droppingdownwardly and out of the passageway 87.

The operating handle 90 is then manually lowered by the player to thebottom portion of elongated slot 95 and then released. Spring member 93will then return the handle member 90 with the upright stud or impactmember 91 affixed thereto to its uppermost position, during whichmovement, the stud or impact member 91 will pass through the aperture87a of the passageway 87 to make contact with the playing ball to drivesame upwardly through the passageway 87 and out through the outlet 88into the cone-like barrel or playing chamber 30. Since the spring member93 attached to the operating handle 90 imparts a strong driving force tothe playing ball, the ball will roll around the cone-like barrel 30which has the spirally arranged rib or tubing 34 to guide the path ofthe ball. The force with which the playing ball is struck by the plunger91 will determine from which of the outlets 30a, 30b, 30c, 30d the ballleaves the conelike barrel member 30.

To obtain the best score, the playing ball must receive an impact fromthe member 91 of sufficient force to carry it upwardly through thepassageway 87 and out the outlet 88 so the ball will travel around thebarrel-like member 30 guided by the spiral rib 34 until it reaches theoutlet 30a which is connected by the passageway 35a to the high scoringchamber A as shown in Figure 1. It will readily be appreciated that ifthe ball travels at too fast a speed, the ball will reach the outer endof the cone-like member 30 and strike the mirror 33 and rebound back toa lower scoring zone.

Preferably, nine playing balls are provided for the game to simulate anine hole golf course with appropriate golf game markings on the ballreceiving compartments A, B, C and D to score the results.

The remaining eight balls on the rack member 80 are then played one at atime in the same manner as explained above for the first ball.

It will thus be seen that a novel coin operated game device preferablysimulating a golf game has been provided wherein the balls are playedone at a time by the player.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. In a coin operated game device having a substantially rectangularenclosure, a playing area divided into a plurality of scoring portions,means for receiving the playing balls to be scored and means connectingthe scoring portions with the ball receiving means; the combination ofcoin actuated means for releasing playing balls from the ball receivingmeans, elevator means for lifting the balls one at a time, a chuteprovided to receive the balls lifted by said elevator means, a startingzone adjacent said chute means for receiving the ball, said startingzone comprising a vertically disposed passageway having a confined lowerend defining an aperture, the upper end of said passageway connectingthe front end portion of said playing area, said playing area comprisinga horizontally disposed cone-like barrel member, resiliently urged meansfor penetrating said aperture in the passageway whereby a ballpositioned therein is driven upwardly through said passasgeway into oneend of said cone-like barrel member, and a mirror to close the end ofsaid barrel member remote from the ball entering end.

2. In a game device utilizing playing balls, a playing area comprisingan elongated cone-like barrel member having a horizontally disposedaxis, means separating said cone-like barrel member into a plurality ofscoring zones of varying diameter, means for receiving the playing ballsto be scored, means providing communication between said scoring zonesand said ball receiving means, a starting zone for the playing 'balls inthe form of a passageway communicating with one end of said cone-likebarrel member, means disposed in said passageway at a point spaced fromsaid cone-like barrel member for providing power to drive a playing ballfrom said passageway into said one end of the cone-like barrel member,and a mirror closing the other end of said cone-like barrel member,whereby the flight of the playing ball along said cone like barrelmember will be arrested by said mirror if driven too hard, said mirrorafiording observation of the playing ball as it travels through saidcone-like barrel member by the player of the game device.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,600,624 De Boer Sept. 21, 1926 1,788,323 Peo Jan. 6, 1931 1,857,059Matheson et al. May 3, 1932 1,877,230 De Pew Sept. 13, 1932 1,918,749Hennings July 18, 1933 1,921,186 Henderson Aug. 8, 1933 1,972,993Huenergardt Sept. 11, 1934 2,664,291 Petterson Dec. 29, 1953

